This invention relates generally to nozzles for handheld dispensing tools, and more specifically to nozzle for dispensing tools employed to dispense viscous materials such as gluing and sealing materials and the like.
Dispensing devices for the application of various viscous material products such as construction adhesives, caulking materials, grease, automotive windshield sealant, dual component reactive resins, sealants, and the like, are well known throughout many industries. Such dispensing devices ideally allow the viscous material to be applied in an accurate, mess-free, and waste-free manner.
Dispensing devices are often in the form of a dispensing gun, or caulking gun. Dispensing devices generally include a squeezable handle and trigger assembly which is operative for advancing the pistons of the dispensers and for maintaining the pistons in advanced positions when the trigger portions of the dispenser devices are released. The viscous materials can be packaged in a variety of forms; some of the most common are cartridge form, collapsible form, and bulk form.
Cartridges are most often designed with a nozzle through which a viscous material composition can be extruded. These cartridges were adapted to be loaded into dispensing devices equipped with mechanisms to push the sealant composition out of the cartridge package. Cartridges, depending on the kind of storage required for the viscous material composition, are generally made from paper, foiled lined paper, plastic, and various kinds of molded and laminated constructions.
The cartridges are typically tubes having a sealed dispensing outlet, such as a conical tip, disposed on one end, with the other end being open for receiving a plunger mechanism or the like from the dispensing device. Just inside the cartridge's open end is a slidably-sealed, axially-movable piston, disc, or the like. For use, the cartridge is placed in a retaining/dispensing section of the dispensing device, and the plunger is brought into contact with the piston. When a user desires to dispense product, the cartridge's dispensing outlet is unsealed, typically by cutting, and the plunger is forced against the piston. This forces the piston axially down the tube and against the product, which in turn is dispensed through the dispensing outlet.
Collapsible tubes are also popular containers for viscous materials. Collapsible packaging has been known in the trade for many years, and offers the benefits of providing good shelf stability for the contained chemicals, low package cost, and minimal packaging waste. Collapsible packages are generally known in the art as a “sausage” or “chub.” Collapsible packaging has a collapsible wall that is, typically, sealed at each end. While collapsible package can be used to contain non-reactive viscous material products, the collapsible package is typically moisture impervious, thus allowing the collapsible package to contain reactive viscous material products also (typically reactive viscous material products are ones that react when exposed to humidity in the air).
Bulk forms of the viscous material may be used with dispensing devices which have a dispensing chamber adapted to be filled directly with the bulk viscous material. All of these options (i.e., cartridge, bulk form, and collapsible form) can be employed in dual component dispensing devices as well as in single component dispensing devices. Moreover, the nozzles of the present invention can be employed with each of these options.
In many applications, multiple beads of adhesive are applied to the parts to be joined, where the surface area of the parts is large enough to require more than a single bead for adequate coverage and adhesion. A nozzle that emits multiple beads simultaneously increases application speed and provides a uniform separation distance between beads. Increased application speed ensures that, in the case of an adhesive, the amount of time that the adhesive is exposed to the air before the parts to be joined are affixed is reduced, thus improving adhesion and allowing for more uniform adhesion across large work areas. Nozzles with multiple dispensing outlets are known for this purpose. Not all applications, however, require as many beads of material as are available in presently available multi-tipped application nozzles, which typically have three or five outlets.
Therefore, there exists a need for a multi-tipped application nozzle for viscous materials wherein the user can select which tips are active and which do not eject material. Also, there exists a need for a multi-tipped application nozzle wherein the user can control the size of the nozzle opening to control the amount of the material to be dispensed. Also, there exists a need for an application nozzle which can be used in combination with a dispensing device regardless of the manner in which the viscous material is packaged, i.e., cartridge form, collapsible form, or bulk form. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entireties.